


Dan and Ren's Love Story

by dreamwriter32



Series: Dan and Ren Fanfiction [2]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Love, Sweet, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Vidcon 2015
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-09
Updated: 2018-02-09
Packaged: 2019-03-15 17:06:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13617819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamwriter32/pseuds/dreamwriter32
Summary: While at a Vidcon 2015, Dan and Ren are doing a panel with other YouTube couples. It is during the panel that Dan and Ren’s love story, or how they met and started dating is told.





	Dan and Ren's Love Story

Ren stood in the Anaheim Convention Center in a room where YouTubers arranged meet-ups with their fans. This was her second Vidcon and she had to say she loved it. Vidcon 2015 was becoming her favorite Vidcon so far, she couldn't really explain why. Maybe it was because her fans had doubled which met her meet up was larger and longer. 

She had been to two Playlist Lives and two Vidcons. Last year, she was a new face and depended a lot on Dan and Phil or Louise for help getting around the convention center. The hotel she managed well on her own after the first day, despite Dan’s previous concerns of letting her explore on her own. 

This year, she had her own beauty line, makeup line, and lifestyle line launched and Playlist was the launch of her merch, provided by Martyn, Phil’s brother and the same provider for the Dan and Phil merch. But despite the loss of her grandmother at the beginning of the year, Ren persevered and all of her dreams she had, had all come true. 

Now all she needed was to find the courage to quit her job at the BBC and freelance. 

Checking her schedule and the time on her phone, she realized she would need to leave soon to get the main stage area where she, Dan, Zoe, and Alfie, among other YouTube Couples would be doing a panel about YouTube couples and how they find the balance between relationship and career. 

She turned when she heard a familiar voice and found her friend Mattie, vlogging. Mattie was a friend of Ren’s she had met not long after she and Dan had started dating. She had become one of Ren’s best friends and the two got together as often as they could. 

“And here we have one of my favorite girls. To think, her first Vidcon was last year and here she is, killing it this year with three panels, larger meetups, and a main stage event.” 

They hugged briefly, exchanging pleasantries. 

“I saw your last makeup tutorial. I loved it!” Mattie exclaimed. She was loud and hyper and the opposite to quiet and slightly shy Ren. 

“Oh, thank you,” Ren gushed. “I have a new tutorial ready to upload. It should be when we get back to England.” 

“Are you with the boys again?” Mattie asked. 

“Yes,” Ren replied. “We got a suite again this year. Phil is in one room and Dan and I are in the other. I have to say it’s a lot of fun traveling with them two.” 

Mattie chuckled. “I bet. Now, what’s the main stage event you're doing?” 

“YouTube Couples: How We Find The Balance Between Relationship and Career. It’s me, Dan, Alfie and Zoe, and a few others that I don’t know.” Checking the time, she realized she needed to hurry to make it. “And I need to be there to go on stage in ten minutes.”

“Okay, I’ll see you later.”

Ren waved, turning back to the two remaining people at her meet up. 

“Hi,” she greeted. 

“Hi, can we get a picture real quick. I know you need to leave,” the brunette girl said. 

“Yes we can,” Ren answered. She took a picture with the two girls and answered their question about her beauty routine video. 

“Does Dan always react that way when you do face masks?” 

Ren chuckled. “No, he’s learned.” 

She had done many videos going over her various beauty routines and her face mask video was a hit. She had her hair pulled back in a ponytail and a headband around her head to keep from getting the facemask in her hair. The favorite part of the video was she had walked into the lounge without warning and Dan jumped at seeing her, asking in a shriek ‘what the f*** is wrong with your face?’ 

Ren waved to the girls as they left and collected her stuff to head to the main stage area. 

“Is that the time?” She asked, seeing a clock in the hallway. 

Realizing she was late, she started to run towards the main stage area, feeling her rucksack hit her back and her handbag smack her outer thighs. Once she found where she needed to be, she hit the door with a bang, rushing into the room where they were meeting before they went on stage. 

“Am I late?” She asked. 

“No,” Zoe told her. “You had about ten minutes left.”

Ren sighed, setting down her rucksack and handbag, digging out her makeup and heading to the mirror in the corner to touch up her makeup. The outfit she had picked for the main stage event was a flowery spring dress that she paired with a medium wash denim jacket and a pair of brown sandals. Her pink toenail polish stood out with the shoe choice, but it was too late now to change. 

“You look pretty,” Zoe commented. 

“Thank you. The dress came from Zara and the jacket is from Selfridges. The shoes I found in a shoe store on Oxford Street.” 

“I have that dress.” 

Alfie came over and sat down beside Zoe, joining the conversation as they moved on to their latest vlogs. Ren moved to get out of the way of the stage manager when she stumbled and about fell in the floor hadn’t someone behind her caught her. 

“Hello Clumsy.” 

“I thought we agreed to only call Phil that,” She retorted. 

Dan chuckled and helped her to stand up. “How was the meetup?” He asked. 

“Good, I ran all the way here because I thought I was late,” she said. “One girl asked me when you were going to be in another one of my videos and I told her I would have to ask you if you had any ideas because I can’t think of one that isn’t a cliché.” 

“You’d rather do something unique and different from everyone else. What about a putting a spin on one, make it your own?” Dan suggested. 

“You could always take a video idea from someone else and make it your own,” Alfie added. 

“I could,” Ren agreed. 

When it was time to line up to go out on stage Ren reached over for Dan’s hand. He took her hand, enlaced his fingers with hers, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. They glanced at each other as the announcer called their name. 

They walked out to the screams of teenage girls and headed to the couch the stage manager told them to sit at. 

When everyone was sitting, the announcer said, “Welcome to the main stage event, YouTube Couples: How We Find the Balance between Relationship and Career.” 

As the announcer did the introduction, Ren moved to a more comfortable position. Dan reached behind her and moved the cushion she was sitting on, making Ren smile at him. 

Since Dan and Ren were the couple sitting close to the announcer, he said, “We’ll start with Dan and Ren, tell us about your channels.” 

“You go first,” Dan mouthed. 

“Since Dan’s being a gentleman and letting me go first.” Ren paused for laughter. “I’m Ren Stellar and I have two YouTube channels, one being BeautifulRen, which is a channel where I post everything beauty related. I have a second channel called Ren’s World, where I post my vlogs and my videos that aren’t beauty related." 

“You have three, babe,” Dan whispered. 

“And I was reminded that I have a third channel called Ren Live where I post my liveshows.” When she turned her heard towards Dan, she mouthed, “Thank you, baby.” 

Dan and the others did their channel description as an introduction before the questions began. Ren repositioned herself again as she felt the skirt of her dress was in a bunch. When she sat back again and crossed her legs, Dan leaned over. 

“Comfortable?” He whispered.

“I am now,” she replied, whispering.

“We’ll start with Dan and Ren. First question, how long have you been dating,” the announcer asked. 

“We’ve been dating for two years,” Ren replied. “Happiest two years of my life.” 

“When did you go public?” 

Ren tapped Dan’s arm, signaling to him it was his turn. 

“About a year after we started dating. We did the Boyfriend and Girlfriend tag for our channels, the girlfriend tag for mine and the boyfriend one for hers.”

The response was overwhelmingly good, with only a few of the die heart Phan fans out there, objecting it. Phil had made a video for his channel following the announcement addressing how he felt for Dan and Ren. He was honest when he said he was happy for Dan and Ren. Following the Boyfriend Tag, a month later Ren made a video, announcing she had moved in with Dan and Phil. 

“How did you meet each other?” 

Ren glanced at Dan as he looked at her. They silently communicated with each other until Ren spoke up. 

“We met in January 2013. I’m going to go a little Golden Girls here. Picture it, BBC Broadcasting House London, January 2013. I was working as a makeup artist in the News Station……… 

Two years earlier…….

Ren left the makeup room, heading to the loo. As she approached the women’s restroom she saw that it was out of order. Sighing, she went to ask where the nearest women’s restroom was. The lady at the desk informed her that the closest women’s restroom was the one on the Eighth floor. She would have to go upstairs. 

Taking the lift, she headed up the eighth floor and managed to find her way to the women’s restroom. She quickly did her business and washed her hands. As she left the restroom, she had glanced down at her fingernails, noticing she had a hangnail on her thumbnail. 

“I need to fix that,” she muttered. 

As she wasn’t paying attention to where she was going, when she turned the corner, she bumped into something, or rather someone. 

“Oh, Sorry,” She stammered. 

“Sorry,” the guy said. 

Ren looked up and the first thing she saw was brown eyes. If she had to describe them, she would describe them as two giant Maltesers. 

“Hi,” She stuttered. 

“Hi,” He returned, smiling slightly. She noticed when he smiled he had a deep dimple on his left cheek and not so much of one on his right. 

“Excuse me,” She murmured, as she walked around him. She didn’t know he had watched her leave. 

2015………..

The audience awed as Ren finished the first part of her and Dan’s story of how they met. 

“I have more than a job to thank the BBC for,” Dan said when Ren finished, making everyone awe again. Ren smiled, knowing Dan was telling the truth. “The day Ren had run into me was the day Phil and I had met with the producers to learn how to operate the equipment.” 

“The next day was a little bit of déjà view because I had gone to the same loo and when I left I ran into Dan again.”

“The night after she bumped into me, I know it sounds cheesy," Dan warned. "But I couldn’t get her out of my head. I didn’t sleep at all that night. I tossed and turned all night. I think I even growled at Phil the next morning when he asked me how I slept.” 

“Can we hear that part of the story?” The announcer asked. 

“Of course,” Ren replied. “As I said, the next day I had gone the same loo…….” 

2013…………

The next day at work, Ren was getting to ready leave and as she did before she left to go home, she went to the loo. She went to the same one she had gone to yesterday. She would swear later that she didn’t go to this particular loo on purpose. This was because when she left she wasn’t paying attention and collided with someone again. 

She looked up to apologize and saw it was the same guy she had bumped into the day before. When they realized they both chuckled. 

“We need to stop meeting this day,” She joked, making him laugh. 

“Is there something wrong about it?” He asked. 

“No, there isn’t,” She replied. “I’m Ren.”

“I’m Dan.

“It’s nice to meet you,” She murmured, remembering her manners. 

“Likewise.” 

They spoke for a second longer before Ren moved to allow Dan to pass and she went on her way. She stopped by the makeup room to double check she had cleaned up her workspace and had gotten all of her things. Seeing she had cleaned up and had everything, she headed to the lift. She paused for a second when she heard the same voice from before. 

“We got off on the wrong floor, Phil.” 

“Don’t blame me, I asked you and you said it was the right floor.” 

She cleared her throat to tell them they weren’t alone. They stopped talking when they heard her and turned towards her. 

“Are you waiting for the lift?” the raven headed one asked. 

“Yes,” She answered. “I’m Ren.” 

“I’m Phil,” he said. “This is my friend, Dan.” 

“We met,” Ren stated. 

“Twice,” Dan added. 

The lift doors opened and Dan and Phil politely let her on first. She murmured a ‘thank you’ and stepped onto the lift, pressing the button for the main floor. As that was where Dan and Phil were going they didn’t press any buttons. She also noticed when she wasn’t looking Dan seemed to be staring at her, only looking away when she looked in his direction.

“Wait a minute,” Phil said, suddenly breaking the silence. “Are you the girl Dan hasn’t stopped talking about?” 

Dan facepalmed, using his other hand to slap Phil in the back of the head. Ren blushed and didn’t say anything else until the lift dinged and they stepped off, again being polite, Dan and Phil let her off first. 

As they stepped off the life, Phil said, “I apologize if that was rude….”

“That’s fine, Phil,” Ren said, politely cutting him off. “I’ll see you tomorrow?” 

“You might.” Phil launched into explaining that he and Dan were starting a radio show. 

“I’ll see you around,” Ren murmured and turned to head for the door. 

She was halfway to the doors when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Turning around, she saw that it was Dan who had stopped her. 

“I’m not usually this forward, but I was wondering if you would……” Dan trailed off, apparently, he was nervous. “If you would…… if you’d…..” 

Phil sighed and he would never know what made him exclaim, “Good grief Dan. Just say it!”

“Would go out with me this weekend?” Dan blurted. 

Without hesitating, Ren replied, “Yes.” 

2015………

“We became boyfriend and girlfriend in March 2013, we announced before Playlist 2014 we were dating as we mentioned earlier and then a month later I moved in with this String Bean and Phil.” 

“I remember when Dan first told us about you we didn’t believe him at first,” Zoe said. “But then he showed me and Louise a picture of you and judging from how he talked about you, we knew he was serious about you. Then we met you, got to know you and see you and Dan together. Honestly, it reminded me of when Alfie and I started dating.” 

Alfie smiled and wrapped his arm around her, squeezing her to his side. 

“Thank you, Zoe,” Ren said, smiling at her friend. 

"What was the first thing you noticed about Ren, Dan?" The announcer asked. 

Dan’s answer was simple. “Her eyes,” he replied. “To this day, I can still get lost in them.” 

A chorus of 'aw' broke out across the auditorium. Ren smiled, softly.

“And what was the first thing you noticed about Dan?” 

“Not to match Dan’s answer but I would have to say his eyes.” Pointing to his dimple on his left cheek, she added, “And this was the second.” 

“Who was the first person you met in the other’s person’s life?”

Dan motioned for Ren to answer first. “I would say Phil but we had met and got to know each other before then. I would have to say, Zoe and Alfie were among the group, but the first person was Louise, and then Cat, PJ and his girlfriend Sophie, and Chris.” 

“For me, it was her friends Patty and Tara. Tara scared the hell of out me because when Ren had left to the restroom, she leaned over the table and said ‘listen closely, take care of her, treat her really well, because if you don’t I’ll kill you.’ Needless to say, I listened.” 

Ren laughed along with everyone else, patting Dan’s cheek. 

As the announcer moved on to Zoe and Alfie, Ren reflected back on meeting Dan’s friends and fellow YouTubers and how she had gotten close to all of them, especially Louise, Zoe, Tanya, and Hazel. 

2013……….

Louise had come to London for some YouTube business and had made a stop by Dan and Phil’s for a catch-up. As it happened, Ren was there. Dan introduced Ren to her, causing Louise to make the comment ‘so you must be the girl Dan doesn’t stop talking about.’ In response, Dan blushed. 

Instantly, they formed a friendship and when she started YouTube, Louise, along with Tanya and Zoe all helped her with content ideas for her channel as neither of the boys knew a thing about beauty. 

Ren had overheard Phil talking to Louise about her when they met up at Summer in City. 

“This is the happiest I’ve seen him, Louise. I admit I see something that wasn’t there before.” 

“I do too,” Louise admitted. “It’s really apparent Ren genuinely cares about Dan.” 

Later when Dan and Louise were discussing possible collabs, she said to Dan, “It’s nice to see you happy.” 

“Thanks, Louise. I am, really. Just when I think I’m going to spend the rest of my life alone, out of nowhere, she pops into my life.” 

Cat was the next friend of Dan and Phil’s Ren had met. She had come to London to visit Dan and Phil and to attend Summer in the City. Since Cat was staying with Dan and Phil, Ren came over to meet them before they headed out for dinner. Like with Louise, Dan introduced Ren to Cat and the two girls became fast friends. 

Before Cat left to continue her trip, Ren had overheard Cat say to Phil, “Ren is really sweet. Have you ever seen Dan this happy before?” 

“I don’t think I have ever seen Dan this happy before,” Phil admitted. Like with Louise, they both said they had seen something that wasn’t there before. 

Dan and Ren were falling in love. 

The one meeting that stood out to Ren was when she had met PJ, Sophie, and Chris when they came over to Dan and Phil’s to discuss the possibility of being in a short movie later in the year. When Dan introduced her, she noticed the slightly shocked expressions on PJ and Chris’s faces. They quickly recovered and greeted her. 

She and Sophie got on really well and the two started a conversation on makeup techniques which none of the boys understood. 

When Ren and Sophie left to go to the kitchen, Chris turned around to Dan, looking slightly shocked still, and mouthed ‘Oh My God!´ Then he held his hand up to Dan for a high five. 

“She’s hot!” He whispered. 

Not knowing what else to say, Dan replied, “Thanks”.

Later in the year, after finishing shooting their scene for The Forever Train, PJ hugged them both, thanking them for being in the short film. When he hugged Dan, he added, “It’s nice to see you, happy mate. You love her don’t you?” 

Dan found Ren, who had come along to help with makeup, talking to Sophie. Not taking his eyes off of her, he nodded. 

“I do, Peej. I can’t imagine a day of my life without her in it.” 

PJ smiled, patting his shoulder. “I know how that feels. You look at her the same way I look at Soph.” 

All of Dan’s friends have said, at one point or another, the day Ren came into Dan’s life was the best thing that could have happened to him and Dan couldn’t agree more. 

2015…… 

Ren was brought back to reality when Dan light bumped her shoulder. Zoe and Alfie had already shared their story and they had moved on to the other couple on the panel. 

“What?” She whispered. 

“You kind of zoned out there,” He said, whispering in her ear. “Are you okay?” 

Ren smiled at him, nodding. 

“How do you find the balance between work and your relationship?” 

As Zoe and Alfie explained how they find a balance, Ren scooted closer to Dan and he wrapped his left arm around her, pulling her close. When it was there turn, Ren decided to take the lead. 

“It was a struggle in the beginning. We’ve both figured out that we need to give the other some attention. For example, if he’s editing, I’m sitting on the sofa bed, the bed or the couch beside him or near him and when he’s done or takes a break I take the opportunity to talk to him or we’ll discuss what we want to do later that evening, what the plans are for dinner.” 

“And if one of us is up late editing, the other brings them tea or hot chocolate, and they wait until their done so we can go to bed together,” Dan added

“Dan and I both communicate when we feel like we’re being neglected which we try to prevent. Date night sometimes ends up being a date night in. Phil will go and visit friends or his brother to give us time to ourselves and we do take advantage of that kind of alone time.” 

“We also take any excuse to spend time with each other, whether it’s going to Starbucks or Tesco. Though sometimes I wonder if the only reason she wants me to go with her to the supermarket because I would carry the bags up the stairs.” 

Laughter broke out in the audience and Ren lightly punched Dan’s shoulder. 

As the announcer moved on to the final couple, Ren leaned against Dan’s shoulder, enlacing her fingers with his. She caught Zoe’s eyes from across the way and they shared a smile

The panel was coming to an end as the announcer thanked everyone who participated in the panel. The audience applauded as the couples started to leave the stage. As they headed to the exit, Ren stopped off in the backstage area to collect her things and headed out towards the door where she met Dan. 

He opened the door for her and let her through first before he followed her and took her hand when she offered it, enlacing their fingers together. 

Ren glanced behind her, noticing Phil was behind them, following them to the main doors. After she walked a few steps, she got a notification on her phone. Usually, if Phil was walking behind them while they were holding hands, he would take a picture with his phone and would send it to Dan and Ren. 

She was right when she checked her notification and the text Phil had sent her. Dan’s phone was on silent and he would get it when he checked his phone. 

“Thank you, Phil,” She said over her shoulder. 

“You’re welcome.”

They headed towards the exit where they would get in a car and head back to the hotel before going out to dinner, usually joined by their friends. As they waited for a car, Ren glanced up at her boyfriend, finding him glancing down at her. Without warning, Dan leaned down and kissed her soundly on the lips. 

“I haven’t been able to do that for hours,” He whispered. 

“Did you miss me?” Ren asked, smiling. 

“A little bit,” he admitted. 

When a car pulled up, Dan opened the back door and helped Ren into the car, taking her rucksack and her handbag, handing her both items one at a time before he climbed in himself. 

OoOoOoOoOoOoO 

Ren left the bathroom, rubbing lotion on her hands. She noticed how quiet it was in the suite. How long was she in the bathroom? Glancing at the clock, she noticed it was only nine in the evening. She wondered briefly where the boys were when she entered the bedroom she and Dan were staying in to find her boyfriend in bed on his computer. 

“It's so quiet,” Ren said, as she climbed in bed. 

“Phil is on the computer making the final arrangements for the UK TATINOF tour. He just peeked in a few minutes ago to tell me that was what he was doing, in case I was wondering why he was quiet.” 

Ren hummed, acknowledging that she heard him. 

Ren picked up her book and began to read while Dan browsed the internet. About an hour later, Ren marked her placed in her book, sitting it down on the nightstand and Dan shut down his laptop, getting up from the bed to set it on the table beside Ren’s laptop. Since he was up, he headed to the bathroom. 

When he finished in the bathroom, he walked out pulling his shirt over his head as he returned to his side of the bed. 

“I thought that was fun today,” Ren stated.

“The panel?” Dan asked, tossing his shirt at the end of the bed. Ren knew it would be on the floor in the morning. 

“Yes, I enjoyed it. It was my first one. I think I want to do more when we come again next year.”

Dan turned over on his side, his head propped up on his hand. 

“Tell Hank or John when you see them tomorrow. They usually will ask those who did a panel this year if they want to next year before the current one ends.”

“I will,” Ren murmured. “Or I’ll email them when we get home. I have some work on my new video I want to do before it goes up.” 

“I thought it was done,” Dan said, confused. He had watched it and thought it was good. 

Ren smiled at him. “It is. I just want to make sure that I got it right before I upload it.” 

She moved down in the bed to lie down, turning on her side facing Dan. 

“Do you ever regret meeting me?” Ren asked, suddenly. 

Dan sat up at the question. “What gave you an idea like that?” 

“Something I usually think about. You could any girl you want and you picked me.” Ren’s voice was low, but Dan heard her. 

“Ree,” Dan murmured, moving his hand under her chin, gently lifting it up so he could see her hazel eyes. “I love you. I know I could have any girl I want, but I want you. I’ve been happy since the moment you walked into my life and I wouldn’t trade you for anything or anyone.”

“Even for Jennifer Lawrence?” Ren asked, knowing his celebrity crush. 

“No,” Dan answered. “I wouldn’t trade you for anything. I meant what I said when I said I have more than a job to thank the BBC for. That was where I met you and had Phil and I not taken the chance and moved to London for a radio show that might not happen, I wouldn’t have met you. You make me Ren and I wouldn’t change that for anything in the world.”

Ren sat up, leaning towards Dan. Her lips met his and they kissed passionately until they needed to breathe. 

“I love you, too,” she whispered against his lips. 

A little while later, Ren found herself laying snuggled against Dan’s side, her head on his shoulder. They talked about the panel they did that day and what they wanted to do while they were still at Vidcon. 

“If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be here,” Ren said, softly. 

“What do you mean?” Dan asked. 

“I would have never taken the leap and created a YouTube channel and I wouldn’t be here meeting my fans. I have you to thank for giving me the confidence to do it.”

Dan kissed her forehead, whispering, “You’re welcome, babe.” 

“You know what I was thinking when we were doing the panel?” Ren asked. 

“What?” 

“Every love story is beautiful, but ours is my favorite,” She replied. “After telling our story, I wouldn’t want to change a thing. Would you?” 

Dan thought for a moment. Never did he imagine when he and Phil moved to London that he would find love. He didn’t imagine that the girl he collided with that day in January 2013 that he would be dating said girl, especially two years later. Try as he might, but he couldn’t imagine a day in his life without Ren. She became a permanent fixture, not just in his life, but Phil’s too. 

He imagined marrying her one day when things calmed down. 

“We need to get some sleep,” Ren said, noticing the time on the clock said it was midnight. 

Dan yawned, agreeing with her. He leaned down for a kiss and whispered, “Good night, baby, I love you.” 

“I love you too, Pooh Bear.”

She reached over to turned off the light as Dan did the same on his side. Once the lights were off with just a little bit of light from the bathroom shining in case they needed to go in the night, they snuggled up close together, kissing one more time before they went to sleep. 

Every love story was beautiful, but Dan and Ren’s favorite was their own.


End file.
